Post by Astaroth on Jan 3, 2016 21:31:21 GMT -6

bunch of good stuff in here, but an interesting point came up with streaming/younger gamers, and i think this is a good way to keep any edits both inhouse during production and minimize the effort to implement it if needed

GoobsausageDec 1, 2015 at 11:17pm Goobsausage said:

ZechsDec 1, 2015 at 9:14pm Zechs said:I have no problem with nudity. Iga isn't going to go all out and grotesque. And if it isn't a shared option, then there should be a game option to filter it or swap the texture. Everyone gets their way.

I can see that option being useful for people streaming the game or LPing it on youtube without getting flagged for mature content or anything similar to that.

actually, just thought of a way to do that fairly easily, have an alpha flag on the coverup objects so when you set pg it shows up, dont have to make 2 different versions and youre less likely to end up with odd censoring since itll have been built at the time the model was made and not hastily slapped on like snes era editing

crocodile i dont think it will, and my personal opinion is it should never matter and people need to get over their hangups about nudity and dissociate it from sex, but thats not happening anytime soon, im mainly offering a suggestion that would keep such editing if it was ever necessary out of the localization phase where most censoring usually takes place and in the design phase when the actual artist is working on the model to help preserve their control over what is done to it

Post by crocodile on Jan 3, 2016 21:51:28 GMT -6

None of the Igavanias have had content that would make LPs or streaming problematic in the past. It really confuses me that some people on this board seriously expect/think that could change. Y'all are weird

Post by crocodile on Jan 22, 2016 19:45:20 GMT -6

Summary: The community is comprised of many long time Castlevania players. Pooling our experiences with previous hard modes and our preferences, we discussed which elements of the game could be made more difficult in ways that would be both fair and fun. What should be included and what should be avoided? The answers we generally agreed upon:

Changing Enemy Placement - introducing more difficult enemies earlier than normal and in new places

Brand New Enemies - even a few new foes would provide for a pleasant surprise

New Enemy AI - new moves, techniques and behaviors from the common enemies

Remixed Boss Fights - new moves, techniques and behaviors from the Bosses

Slightly Remixed Castle Layout - New traps, hazards and surprises (see some of the recent Gunvolt additions for a decent example but don't go overboard)

Damage Modifiers - Enemies/Bosses can deal & take more damage but don't take it to extremes (Bosses that now have 10x HP and take forever to kill are NOT fun)

New Items and Weapons - another incentive/reward to play this mode and also offer aid in overcoming the new challenges. Maybe only the best weapons/items can be found in this difficulty setting?

A Better Drop Rate - make it easier to acquire drops without having to farm and potentially over-level

Optional Level/Ability Caps - an option to change the max level of the game or abilities you can use to modify challenge. Lvl 1, 25 and 50 caps? No Magic rule? As an aside, a 255 level cap would also be interesting as a reward for completing one of the more difficult level caps.

Story Content - avoid locking critical story content exclusively to this mode since more casual players may miss it (allow them to find it here OR in Normal Mode/New Game+)

Post by crocodile on Jan 23, 2016 1:00:45 GMT -6

Summary: The wide range of useful weapons that have been at your disposal in Igavania games has always been a large part of their appeal. However, shields were one weapon class, which saw its introduction in SOTN, that fell by the way side as we moved through the Igavania games. Most of us are interested in seeing shields return. However, while a few of us were ok with their implementation in SOTN, most found them overall to be useless in that game without the Shield Rod - they were often worse than additional offensive options or just evading attacks and they didn't protect you all that well. As such, we thought of ways they could and need to be improved:

Long Range Combat - Use them as a discus weapon you can throw and retrieve ala the Shield Boomerang in the Mega Man Zero series or as Captain America often does

Close Range Combat - Use them to perform dashes and strikes at close range. This is also something CaptainAmerica tends to do.

Absorb and Reflect - Use them to absorb, reflect or parry (perhaps in tandem with a directional or button command) enemy attacks & projectiles

Increased Defensive Utility - Depending on the shield, the ability to actually block melee attacks, large projectiles, some boss attacks, etc. is needed. In SOTN they were useless against too many types of attacks.

Wide Range of Properties - Elemental resistances, different sizes, magic barriers that allow blocking in multiple directions at once, etc. - there are several ways to increase the utility of shields.

Upgradeable - The crafting system can provide an opportunity to change or amend shield properties.

Post by crocodile on Feb 14, 2016 16:47:07 GMT -6

Summary: We all came to support Bloodstained because we were huge fans of "Igavanias" and the gameplay they represent. Nonetheless, many here are also fans of the Classic Castlevania gameplay. Overall, most were big fans of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and Rondo of Blood with a strong appreciation for the quality of life improvements Super Castlevania IV brought. Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth was also a poplar title. Each of these games, as well as other Classic Castlevania titles, all had their strong points we would like to see brought to Bloodstained's Classic Mode:

Three Playable Characters -Our assumption is that all three confirmed playable characters will be usable in every mode with their unique attributes/weapons/abilities. We hope this assumption is correct <3

Character Swap - Some liked the character swap mechanic of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse or Julius Mode in Dawn of Sorrow but that isn't a majority opinion. Choosing your character at the very beginning of the game or inbetween stages (ala Rondo of Blood) is also fine and probably simpler.

Weapon and Jump Control - Many REALLY loved the degree of control you had over your jump and your whip (8 way attack) in Super Castlevania IV. As such, our preference is a classic game with a good, controllable jump and weapons that can strike in multiple directions. However, we are also aware of how that must fundamentally change level and enemy design. So if the type of classic game you really want to make requires a more "traditional" jump or weapon abilities that's ok too.

Branching Paths - We liked the branching pathways and alternate stages that Rondo of Blood offered though we understand that may not be on the table since the Kickstarter described Classic Mode as having six set stages. If there are no alternate stages, we at least hope each stage will have multiple pathways you can play through.

Stairs - Stairs are of course expected - hopefully you can interact with them well such as the ability to attack from stairs, the ability to jump onto and off of stairs easily, etc.

Upgradeable Weapons - Multiple Classic Castlevanias have had the ability to upgrade your weapon by collecting power ups in a level. We hope this feature returns with some cool, new, nifty power-ups.

Mini-Bosses - Mini-Bosses are cool so if possible we'd like to see them in addition to regular bosses.

Sub-Weapons and Item Crashes - Sub-Weapons seem to have been deconfirmed for the main game but every Classic Castlevania has sub-weapons so the expectation is that something similar (though it doesn't have to be exactly a Sub-Weapon system) will be at least present in Classic Mode. Many were fans of item crashes so something similar in Bloodstained would be cool too.

Post by crocodile on Feb 14, 2016 16:48:27 GMT -6

Summary: Many in the community are avid speedrunners or are fans of watching speedruns. From our experiences, we were able to pool together all the aspects of a Speed Run Mode we thought would make speedruns both more fun to practice and/or more fun to spectate. We recognize some ideas are more viable than others but we have faith given Inticreates prior experiences with Speed Run modes that they can parse out what can and can't be done.

Control Input Display - Displacing controller inputs on screen can be useful for those trying to perfect button inputs for attacks and movement techniques.

On-Screen Timer & Leaderboards - Standard features that are likely already confirmed but it doesn't hurt to mention them. The timer should never stop even if the game is paused or a status screen is brought up.

Segmented Timer - An example (look to the left) can be seen here. The timer would take note of major milestones (called "splits") in the game and display when each event took place and how much better or worse that time is from previous attempts. It's a way for speedrunners to compare runs to each other portion by portion and look for ways to improve particular sections of the run. Traditionally, where these splits are assigned are usually decided by the speedrunner depending on the type of speedrun they are doing. For simplicity's sake, setting the splits here at each major boss is probably the best thing to do.

Ghosts - Similar to the ghosting feature seen in many racing games, having a previous run of yourself (or a friend potentially shared online) to play against and compare may offer avenues for self improvement or a fun way to race asynchronously.

Toggle -All the above display features should be able to be easily toggled on or off at the start or during a run.

Suspend Feature - Not a requirement but a save-state feature (even a temporary one) can be useful to help avoid runs going bad

Video Sharing - A way to facilitate video sharing of speedruns or partial speedruns via a video upload service such as Youtube

Classic or Igavania - Make sure the SpeedRun Mode can be used in either the main game or the Classic Mode.

Online Race - As long as it isn't too resource intensive or hard to implement an official race mode would be appreciated since speedrunning races are so common. The Online Challenge Mode stretch goal (@ $4 Million) seems to cover part of this but this would be through the entire castle (or Classic Mode) rather than special stages. As with normal speedrun races, the players shouldn't be able to interact with each other.

Post by crocodile on Feb 16, 2016 23:15:10 GMT -6

So XombieMike , what's the total outlook on the reviews we've written so far? If I've counted correctly, we have content written on the subject of

Cutscenes*

Traversal Mechanics

Castle Design and Layout*o Subsection on Miriam's Room*

Weapons*o Subsection on Shields

Enemy Concepts and Behavior

Familiars

Clock Systems

"Features you's like to See"**

"Rogue-Like Dungeon Mode"**

Nightmare Difficulty Mode

Classic Mode

Speed Run Mode

Am I missing anything? The topics I marked with a * have a long form post in this topic but we have no idea what the condensed format of these look like since I recall you wrote them but kept them on another page/topic. Is there anyway you can share those just so we (community at large) all know exactly what those summaries look like? The topics I marked with a ** don't even have a long form post in here so I have no idea what consensus was drawn from those threads and thus what is being put forth as our collective opinion. Did you write a condensed format for those threads? If not is that something I should do?

I also post this question to everyone at large - is there any pressing topic people feel should be either discussed or has been discussed enough to be worth writing up? I think the Costume thread has had a lot of discussion though I'm not in a super rush to write it up since it's likely one of the last things the dev team will get to (I can still do it now if people want that though). Of course I expect all these conversations to evolve as we learn more about the game - overall I think the earlier this stuff is worked out probably the better.

Post by Mana on Feb 17, 2016 3:58:26 GMT -6

These are great, it saves me a lot of time! Thank you! As far as I can see, I don't see any main points missing. Maybe I would include items and game balance/farming that were mentioned above.

When the timing is right, I will mention these requests to the team. Actually, there are couple of points mentioned here that are already confirmed as well as features that are never going to be included (unfortunately),As a community manager, I want to ask everyone's suggestion/request on how I should interact and release new information. Currently, I've only posted new information that are absolutely confirmed with permission. I'm the type of person who wants to know the latest information but there are some people who wants to save the surprise until the release.

I'm planning to make a journal thread where I post my daily loot of information at ArtPlay. I was hoping to do this through Twitter or Facebook but I haven't got around its official accounts.There are a lot of confidential materials so I won't go into details, but it wouldn't hurt to share through broad topics (maybe give few hints here and there). It would be a good conversation starter. I think this would be a good way to connect and know exactly what the team is currently working on.

Post by purifyweirdsoul on Feb 17, 2016 8:27:14 GMT -6

Sounds good to me, Mana. I think the visibility of actual social media is a good way to go, maybe even a tumblr or actual blog that could be linked and a part of the official site (been a while since I've heard anything about that)?

As far as topics to cover, I'd like to see "UI and Menus", "In-game map ideas and features" (though I myself and fine with standard old blue/white Super Metroid), and bulleted points under a broad "character appearance" heading (which would include: "armor models" thread, "Idle poses and animations" thread and kind of an aggregate of the various related ideas proposed, such as ribbons being the new Alucard "cape" as far as customization, visible crystalization spread on Miriam as the game progresses/events occur, etc. I'm down to do these things myself, but it might take me a while before I have time to fairly represent everything.

Mirroring what croc was saying earlier...should we go back and bullet-point posts here that are not already presented in that way, or is that not necessary since they may be chronicled that way elsewhere?

Lastly, there are polls to consider too, like with the cutscenes. A tally or general idea of the results should be noted if there was sufficient activity in a poll.

Post by ReySol on Feb 17, 2016 11:40:10 GMT -6

I can`t wait to know any detail or hint about the development of the game. It is very exciting, just the fact that this game is being made. I am looking forward to the big monthly update, to the next podcast (when is it planned?) and all the little things Mana can tell us. Some of the things may be changed or discarded later in the development, but still, all this is part of the development of the game. I cannot wait to hear more music for the game. I also wish to know if the development of the mini game has started..there are so many things It is good IGA is back, ahhh, makes me crazy happy!

I am so excited, I forgot to reply to Mana..I think any way of releasing the information is great. For us here, obviously the forum is a great place. For the wider audience - facebook, twitter and tumblr would be good (although I don`t use facebook and I don`t like it, haha..), with links to the forum where the topic will be discussed. The first post of the thread on the forum would be the same as tumblr / facebook / twitter (shorter). That way we can see posts and discuss when you write them, while the wider group of people would see this on social networks with links to come to discuss here.

Post by crocodile on Feb 17, 2016 13:01:55 GMT -6

These are great, it saves me a lot of time! Thank you! As far as I can see, I don't see any main points missing. Maybe I would include items and game balance/farming that were mentioned above.

No problem! Regarding items - as in what sort of disposable items we would like to see? I think we touched upon drops and farming a bit in some other topics as you said before but we can certainly discuss that among ourselves in more detail. Did you mean anything else by game balance?

When the timing is right, I will mention these requests to the team. Actually, there are couple of points mentioned here that are already confirmed as well as features that are never going to be included (unfortunately).

I don't think there is any expectation that all the suggestions and preferences mentioned here by us (the community) will make it into the game. While of course the more that have a positive influence on development the better, I think we all expect some number of them to be rejected/ignored because either they are unfeasible or because IGA just straight up thinks some number of them are bad ideas. I think just being heard is something we really appreciate. Depending on what you are able to say, we would definitely be interested in hearing what has already been confirmed as in as well as what has already been definitively taken off the table from the things we've already mentioned.

As a community manager, I want to ask everyone's suggestion/request on how I should interact and release new information. Currently, I've only posted new information that are absolutely confirmed with permission. I'm the type of person who wants to know the latest information but there are some people who wants to save the surprise until the release.

Is your question here "how much do people want to know about the game before they actually get to play it?"?. That's going to depend on each individual person with regards to what they want to see before release and what they don't. Honestly, if someone wants to go into the actual game as fresh as possible, the only way to do that is to not follow the development at all (but that means they also forfeit any ability to offer feedback). If someone is on here or closely following the Kickstarter updates, they're just going to have to deal with seeing stuff - that's on them not you.

My Personal Opinion:

With regards to the narrative, I think knowing all the major actors (except maybe the FINAL BOSS) as well as the 2 other playable characters aside from Miriam is important but I don't think further details are required. As an example, with Aria/Dawn of Sorrow's Julius Mode, I think revealing something like that before release would be something you'd have to/should do were those games crowdfunded projects. However, you wouldn't have to reveal the narrative reasons behind it (Soma becomes Dracula so Julius fulfills his promise to Soma to kill him). You might talk about why those other characters were chosen from a mechanical standpoint ("they represent this playstyle which we wanted to include in the game") and if the choice of playable characters is something you want backer feedback on, rather than be left entirely to the narrative, you have to be transparent about this sooner rather than later. Overall though, narrative and story details are something you can and should keep close to your chest. More so than other aspects of the game.

There are certainly specific narrative tropes/devices I'm expecting to be hit (either because I want them to be hit or because I've consumed enough similar media to know what to expect with these kinds of settings regardless if I like those things or not :P). I think those "common" tropes/devices are are less valuable to guard whereas ways the narrative may seek to make itself truly unique (or at least uncommon) are best served hidden until release. Also, it goes without saying that if there is something like a Mirror/Inverted Castle, Castle on the Moon, etc. in the game, that' something you absolutely don't want to give away before release.

For things like Weapons, Equipment and Items, you probably want to reveal all the types before release but only a few/some examples of each type. Weapons, Equipment and Items made by backers (Runic Forging backer tier) are typically revealed before release given what I've seen other kickstarters do so I think you should do the same. That would obviously be pretty close to release though.

Monsters and Bosses are similar to Weapons, Equipment and Items in that you want to reveal some of them (a good number of them to be honest) but not all of them - especially ones you are likely to find near the end game. I'd focus on ones that are likely to draw a lot of attention or get a lot of hype. The types of monsters that players/backers would really be hoping to or expecting to see in a game like this. Ones that could potentially be fan favorites or staples of the franchise if we get more games in the series.

Basic Game Mechanics should definitely be shown in detail before release. Like how exactly the crafting/shard system (with some examples) works is something you'd need to go over in detail.

Rooms/Areas in the Castle is something you are going to want to handle similar to Weapons et al. Show some of them (a good number probably) but not all of them. The more unique and unexpected the type of room/area is, the less I'd feel inclined to share it before release and the more expected the type of room/area is the more inclined I would be to share it before release. Also the closer to the beginning/midpoint of the game, the more you should show them off and the closer to the end-game specific rooms and areas are, the less of them you should show off (if at all).

With regards to Traversal Mechanics I repeat the above: the more unique and unexpected it is, the less I'd feel inclined to share it before release and the more expected it is, the more inclined I would be to share it before release. Stuff like double/wall jumps, etc. are not something you should hide.

Overall, expectations are different for crowdfunded games vs. games done through standard publisher models. I'm not sure how much experience you have within this model (and of course IGA likely has very little) but in summation I would say you don't have to show all your cards and you almost certainly don't want to but you're going to have to be way more transparent and reveal a lot more about the game before release than you would otherwise. Backers will always be hungry, always asking questions, always interested in seeing progress and will be invested enough to look for anything. As an example, several other crowdfunded projects I've followed/am currently following straight up stream themselves doing art or programming for the game. They tend to hide story details but otherwise you could pretty much see everything and talking straight with the developers was/is common and encouraged. This is not really possible here due to the language barrier but just something to keep in my with regards to what other crowdfunded projects have done/are currently doing.

TLDR: Keep the narrative closely guarded but all the major players and playable characters should be revealed long before release. Otherwise, when in doubt about whether to show off an aspect of the game or reveal something, you probably should do so and do so liberally but with a preference towards material near the beginning or middle of the game rather than the end and a preference towards material that plays into our expectations and/or can build hype and away from material that may subvert our expectations (but in a good way). Again, those who are anal about spoilers kind of forfeit that right if they stay active on the forums or up to date with the KS updates.

I'm planning to make a journal thread where I post my daily loot of information at ArtPlay. I was hoping to do this through Twitter or Facebook but I haven't got around its official accounts.There are a lot of confidential materials so I won't go into details, but it wouldn't hurt to share through broad topics (maybe give few hints here and there). It would be a good conversation starter. I think this would be a good way to connect and know exactly what the team is currently working on.

Aside from the forum here, the Kickstarter Updates are probably the best way to dispense this sort of information. Or perhaps even a development blog (though that's probably redundant with the Kickstater page). Twitter is only really good for pointing people towards said updates (unless you are only revealing tiny bits of info at a time once per day/week/whenever). I'm not a huge fan of the formatting of Facebook with regards to these things but that might just be me personally.

Post by purifyweirdsoul on Feb 17, 2016 13:19:36 GMT -6

I'll add, I'm one of these people that's anal about spoilers, but the course we've set so far has been spot-on. I'm too excited about the project (and want to contribute feedback, as croc said) to not consume information on it, though. If we keep things as general and not too specific as they have been, I think we'll all be good. Graphics, features, gameplay elements, etc - that's all great.

I mostly agree with the guidelines above, leaning a smidge more toward the mystery of discovery. I don't need to see very much of the areas of the game, just enough to have an idea of what the overall visuals will be.

Post by Mana on Feb 17, 2016 22:19:31 GMT -6

Aside from the forum here, the Kickstarter Updates are probably the best way to dispense this sort of information. Or perhaps even a development blog (though that's probably redundant with the Kickstater page). Twitter is only really good for pointing people towards said updates (unless you are only revealing tiny bits of info at a time once per day/week/whenever). I'm not a huge fan of the formatting of Facebook with regards to these things but that might just be me personally.

Kickstarter Updates are once a month with a summarized version of the month's progress (more of an actual reveal). Just like you said, Twitter sounds like the most appropriate place for these kind of updates.

To a certain extent, I do have permission to share couple of new information. Any large updates or visual samples will be kept for Kickstarter Updates. Lets take this month for example; we don't know what to expect for the next KS Updates - it could be animation, weapon designs, traversal mechanics, etc. I can share bits of information before the update to give an idea.

But this was just a plan/thought so I could always do what I've been doing - reading through forum posts, occasionally pop my head in relevant topics, and tell IGA what's happening on the forums.

Also, thanks for the detailed personal input! It gave me a general idea how crowdfunded games flow in terms of release timings and materials.

I'll add, I'm one of these people that's anal about spoilers, but the course we've set so far has been spot-on. I'm too excited about the project (and want to contribute feedback, as croc said) to not consume information on it, though. If we keep things as general and not too specific as they have been, I think we'll all be good. Graphics, features, gameplay elements, etc - that's all great.

I mostly agree with the guidelines above, leaning a smidge more toward the mystery of discovery. I don't need to see very much of the areas of the game, just enough to have an idea of what the overall visuals will be.

Post by Astaroth on Feb 17, 2016 22:31:37 GMT -6

definitely love info on all the crunchy bits but anything having to do with story, key items, or confirming areas that get further into the game than maybe the entrance hall or second area id want keep under wraps to both keep the spoilers to a minimum and to keep the exploration as close to "aw cool a new area, i wonder whats in here, ooh whats that in the background" as possible

i know itd be a pain to do devwise and some people wont get why its being done that way, but keeping to small mockup/mashup areas that wont actually be in the game to show off the crunchy stuff instead of showing off actual areas of the game could be a really good way to keep the spirit of discovery as pure as feasibly possible, but i also do know that the team needs varied areas early on to test out the shaders, lighting, physics, etc to know how best to tweak it to fit the overall game, so however its actually done i leave completely up to yall to decide

Post by crocodile on Feb 17, 2016 23:36:27 GMT -6

Aside from the forum here, the Kickstarter Updates are probably the best way to dispense this sort of information. Or perhaps even a development blog (though that's probably redundant with the Kickstater page). Twitter is only really good for pointing people towards said updates (unless you are only revealing tiny bits of info at a time once per day/week/whenever). I'm not a huge fan of the formatting of Facebook with regards to these things but that might just be me personally.

Kickstarter Updates are once a month with a summarized version of the month's progress (more of an actual reveal). Just like you said, Twitter sounds like the most appropriate place for these kind of updates.

To a certain extent, I do have permission to share couple of new information. Any large updates or visual samples will be kept for Kickstarter Updates. Lets take this month for example; we don't know what to expect for the next KS Updates - it could be animation, weapon designs, traversal mechanics, etc. I can share bits of information before the update to give an idea.

But this was just a plan/thought so I could always do what I've been doing - reading through forum posts, occasionally pop my head in relevant topics, and tell IGA what's happening on the forums.

Also, thanks for the detailed personal input! It gave me a general idea how crowdfunded games flow in terms of release timings and materials.

I must have misconstrued how robust the nature of the material you wanted to reveal was (or at least drip feed). Yeah if 140 characters + a picture can get the point across than that's fine. I was thinking you perhaps wanted to write a short paragraph or two per subject. You might as well use that Sword & Whip Twitter account for something - I thought it was very under-utilized during the campaign and afterwards.

Oh, and as an addition to what I said earlier, you want to treat Backer created enemies (Hounds of Hell and Demon Summoner backer tiers) the same as Backer created Weapons - you don't have to reveal where they are in the castle per say but you should absolutely reveal them in detail before launch and credit their respective backers. See an example with what the Shantae and Shovel Knight campaigns did.

definitely love info on all the crunchy bits but anything having to do with story, key items, or confirming areas that get further into the game than maybe the entrance hall or second area id want keep under wraps to both keep the spoilers to a minimum and to keep the exploration as close to "aw cool a new area, i wonder whats in here, ooh whats that in the background" as possible

i know itd be a pain to do devwise and some people wont get why its being done that way, but keeping to small mockup/mashup areas that wont actually be in the game to show off the crunchy stuff instead of showing off actual areas of the game could be a really good way to keep the spirit of discovery as pure as feasibly possible, but i also do know that the team needs varied areas early on to test out the shaders, lighting, physics, etc to know how best to tweak it to fit the overall game, so however its actually done i leave completely up to yall to decide

Being deliberately obtuse, especially via dummy assets, to obscure information I don't think is particularly valuable. As an example, confirming that there is a Clock Tower section in the game is not a spoiler. Like 90% of all Classicvania/Igavania games have a Clock Tower section. That's something that plays into player expectations and could be used to hype people prior to release but its not going to surprise anyone when they are actually playing the game. That is to say I feel you'll generate more net joy by saying "Hey guys we delivered on one of the things you expected to be in this game - doesn't it look sweet!" than having players who are following the game closely to go upon release "Oh that thing that I expected to be here is here. Neat." Plus isn't there going to be a playable Beta at some point? It's going to be a pretty wimpy Beta if its not even going to let you leave the Entrance zone and you're going to be stretching for content reveals if you handicap yourself to never reveal more about the game zones than what might be in the Beta

Post by castledan on Feb 21, 2016 22:35:48 GMT -6

Yes mana share whatever you can

Or listen to what everyone else said as they had more detailed responses than I.....I'm starved for info compared to most

I really like your journal thread idea though and would love to see it. For people like myself that would enjoy any info we can get. Maybe information that might not be interesting enough to be talked about in detail on the Kickstarter but you feel could be interesting on the forum.

Basically what the team has been working on or things they're trying out. General stuff that might be too broad for the Kickstarter updates.

Post by purifyweirdsoul on Oct 5, 2016 8:07:10 GMT -6

Summary: This thread compiled feedback regarding input commands for special moves. This is confirmed as being a system in Bloodstained now. A poll was attached and more technical opinions were collected. All in all, long before confirmation, almost all fans here were excited for their return or at least did not mind them.

Inputs input!:

With 100 votes by 78 respondents over about 6 months, we have an opinion of 84% in favor of the return of special attacks with at least quarter circle or "back to forward" complexity

Of those that do not mind directional input special attacks, a bit over a third of votes for specials were in favor also of more difficult motions such as half circles. Less favor was given to more complicated inputs such as "pretzel" (Geese's Raging Storm) motions or other irregular fighting game motions

A main issue with the difficulty of motions in SotN is likely from how the input interpreter was coded in-game rather than so much the actual motions themselves, as noted by speedrunners such as mecharichter and romscout during streams and marathons. It is felt that how the inputs were handled were one main reason some players from before did not like input commands, and that experience may inform votes here as well. One approach would be to improve the buffer for inputs in regards to leniency, but also that the game can read your inputs well and clearly

It will be important to not overlap too much with other actions to interfere with platforming and dodging that could hamper the experience. Mind given to control overlap, input priority, and the aforementioned input interpreter concerns could alleviate this issue greatly

It was felt that some degree of natural correlation and intuitiveness between the attack's action and what its input is would be favorable

Trying out different input motions to find a weapon's "hidden" attack/trying to find spells in SotN after acquiring something new was a great joy for many players and some of our most memorable moments

A concession I had considered, as a means of simplifying motions for those that would rather not have to use them, the game could have in it an equipable accessory (or shard) that allows direction + button for these attacks, at the cost of using an accessory/shard slot. It would have utility for those that can do the motions as is, too, though, as it could allow grounded actions to be done in the air for new attack/mobility options (i.e. SotN attacks as an example, forward + R1 could perform a mid-air Alucard Sword special, or a mid-air Hellfire teleport for additional jump distance and invincibility)

A couple of players expressed concern as to the need/gameplay practicality of motions. This should probably be balanced against a "fun factor"/the sake of IGAvania variety and discovery, and perhaps somehow upgradeable for player preference. For relevance, a personal idea if this "different" category of attacks needs a spot to fill in the narrative, some of these actions could be the attacks mentioned early on in the Kickstarter, such as "Voltic Chain" which was specifically described as "not a demonic ability". These seemed to me to originate directly from Miriam/her back crystal itself rather than external demonic abilities, and most were crystal or glass-like in origin (the wine glass, throne, chains) - could this mean she produces a crystalline substance to a degree, as also would be evidenced by concept art of stained glass-appearing weapons? Could this Iceman-like production be related to crafting then, as well? (narrative relation/plausibility)

As far as tone and further succinct touches, I will defer that to Mana 's discretion. Don't hesitate to ask me/us if something is confusing if you decide to forward these things, Mana!

Post by Galamoth on Apr 12, 2017 9:34:25 GMT -6

I've been wanting to ask Mana about what they've decided for the Japanese title of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.

Mana Have you, IGA, or anyone else on the development team given any thought to what Bloodstained will be called for its release in Japan? Will it simply be the same as the English name, but in Katakana?

I had the silly idea to come up with a full Kanji title for Bloodstained, though it's not a direct translation.

I was thinking about this earlier today. So, hear me out guys. So the main enemies in the game are based on the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia, and the way they're often referred to in Japanese (Majin) can be alternatively translated from meaning "Demon God" to "Demon Pillar", which several media in Japan have made use of, like Fate/Grand Order and Highschool DxD.

Maybe something like "Demon God Fortress" instead, if it's true that Ars Goetia demons are called "Majin" in Japanese media.

Post by crocodile on Apr 12, 2017 13:40:31 GMT -6

Galamoth : What would be the point in having a separate/different name for the game in Japanese vs. English? Or even keeping the name but translating it into a Japanese alphabet? This isn't a game that was developed in the Japanese market with eyes towards exportation only after completion like the original Castlevania 30+ years ago. This is a game borne out of the international, primarily English speaking, gaming market. It's not like the Japanese aren't used to buying games with English names either. Obviously this isn't my call to make but I see no benefit in having different names across regions for this game. Being consistent can only help with marketing for this brand new IP. No need for people to potentially second guess things or have names get lost in translation.

Post by Galamoth on Apr 12, 2017 14:49:10 GMT -6

Galamoth : What would be the point in having a separate/different name for the game in Japanese vs. English? Or even keeping the name but translating it into a Japanese alphabet? This isn't a game that was developed in the Japanese market with eyes towards exportation only after completion like the original Castlevania 30+ years ago. This is a game borne out of the international, primarily English speaking, gaming market. It's not like the Japanese aren't used to buying games with English names either. Obviously this isn't my call to make but I see no benefit in having different names across regions for this game. Being consistent can only help with marketing for this brand new IP. No need for people to potentially second guess things or have names get lost in translation.

You do have a point there.

The fewer people from Japan who actually helped back the Kickstarter campaign probably wouldn't be expecting any brand name other than "Bloodstained" in Katakana.

crocodile: Thanks for the well wishes everyone. Been busy with life (+ no updates) means I haven't been checking around here super often but do know I still love all you guys Aug 16, 2017 18:11:01 GMT -6